Workout Summary, Day 84

Here comes the plateau!

It's a common occurrence in every long-term fitness plan to have plateaus: points when your progress appears to level off. Whether you're used to seeing them or not, they can be frustrating and can cause even the most well-intentioned of us to stray from our plan or quit!

In my case, I've been using my weight as one of my indicators of my own progress. I know I've dropped a significant amount, but I'm reaching a point where I'm building muscle and reshaping my body as a product of the work I've been doing. Since muscle weighs more than fat, my weight will tend to stabilize or even increase during this time; however, I may see some performance gains during this time which I'm going to need to focus on in order to stay motivated.

Another factor (an expensive one) comes from the classes I've missed this week at Shamrock MMA. I was a bit ambitious and went on a hike in the afternoon before my Tuesday night class, got a bit overheated, and lay down after I got home...woke up too late to go, and feeling dehydrated. I spent the rest of the evening chilling out, having some watermelon, a healthy amount of water, and cooled off by lounging in the pool at my gym. I had intended to return tonight for my class; however, I forgot that class was cancelled because of tonight's fights. I'll have to make up for them next week.

I can still celebrate other progress though. My numbers for pushups and crunches have increased significantly, in terms of the numbers that I can complete before stopping! I'm enjoying the activities that I've been doing, so I can't complain there. I've especially enjoyed being able to share many of my workouts with my students, who are growing tremendously from the process! Also, I've found that I've really come to enjoy my "free day food" a lot more when I use it as a treat and not a staple. Lastly, my shorts are still falling off. I'm going to have to do something about that before it gets embarassing. (lol)


Anyways, here's my tally for the week:

• Cycling (stationary): 35 miles (5 Sat, 10 Sun, 5 Mon, 10 Wed, 5 Thurs)
  
• Hiking: 21 miles (7 Sat, 3.5 Sun, 3.5 Mon, 3.5 Tues, 3.5 Thurs)
• Running (elliptical): 9 miles (3 Sun, 3 Mon, 3 Wed)
  
• Basics: 60m (15m Mon, 15m Tues, 15m Wed, 15m Thurs)
  
• Forms: 36 (12 Sun, 12 Tues, 12 Thurs)
• Kicks: 2300 (700 Sun, 700 Tues, 200 Wed, 700 Thurs)
• Push-ups: 800 (200+100 Mon, 100 Tues, 300 Wed, 100 Thurs)
  
• Crunches: 1300 (300+200 Mon, 150 Tues, 300+200 Wed, 150 Thurs)
  
• Squats: 150 (150 Mon)
  
• Lunges: 150 (150 Wed)
• Bag Work: 18m (10m Tues, 4m Wed, 4m Thurs)
• Boxing: None (overheated and missed class, darn)
  
• Grappling: None (class cancelled this week, aww)
• Current Weight: 233
  

Total since Day 1:

• Cycling (total): 521 miles
• Hiking: 115 miles
• Running (total): 77 miles
• Basics: 195m
  
• Form repetitions: 384
• Kicks: 21200
• Pushups: 6330
• Crunches: 9835
• Squats: 4070
• Lunges: 2270
• Punching w/weights: 30m
  
• Bag work: 142 rounds (142m total)
• Boxing: Will begin next week.
  
• Grappling: 1 hour
• Net Weight Loss: -16
  

Greg Garcia and the Broken Lifecycle

This isn't a clever post with a biology class twist. I was riding for 15 minutes on a broken exercise bike and didn't notice. (Oops on awareness, lol.)

Everything seemed normal. I sat down, began pedaling, entered the usual stats on the computer, and then glued myself onto the overhead television monitors, one of which was playing Sport Science - I was hooked.

Towards the end of the program, I glanced down to check my progress. The bike's display told me that, in 15 minutes, I had gone over 8 miles! Even if I had switched it to metric, and the display was showing kilometers instead of miles, that's way beyond what I can do.

What to do? Stand up, move over to the next working Lifecycle, and start over, of course. :)

Checked again after 15 minutes: 2.75 miles. Whew. Now that's more like it.

Workout Summary, Day 77

This week marks the beginning of a new "white belt experience" for me, in the sense that I'm trying something outside of my comfort zone for the first time.

I'm training at Shamrock MMA 2 nights a week now, beginning today. Had my first grappling class with them earlier this evening. It's a different environment, one which is foreign to me, and in a way, it's nice to begin with a clean slate and on relatively even terms with others of similar MMA experience. Overall, it was a pretty fun class!

Anyways, here's my tally for the week:

• Hiking: 17 miles (2 Sat, 5 Mon, 5 Wed, 5 Th)
• Cycling (stationary): 30 miles (5 Sat, 10 Sun, 5 Mon, 5 Wed, 5 Th)
• Running (elliptical): 6 miles (3 Sun, 3 Wed)
• Basics: 45m (15m Mon, 15m Tues, 15m Thurs)
• Forms: 40 (12 Sun, 16 Tues, 12 Thurs)
• Bag Work: 16m (4m Sat, 4m Mon, 4m Tues, 4m Thurs)
• Kicks: 2600 (600 Sat, 600 Mon, 700 Tues, 700 Thurs)
• Push-ups: 680 (125 Sat, 175+25 Mon, 180+25 Wed, 150 Th)
• Crunches: 1160 (200 Sat, 330+100 Mon, 330+100 Wed, 100 Th)
• Squats: 450 (100 Sat, 250 Mon, 100 Th)
• Lunges: 170 (170 Wed)
• Grappling: 1h (Th)
  

Total since Day 1:

• Running (total): 68 miles
• Cycling (total): 486 miles
• Hiking: 94 miles
  
• Pushups: 5530
• Crunches: 8535
• Squats: 3920
• Lunges: 2120
• Punching w/weights: 30m
  
• Basics: 135m
  
• Form repetitions: 348
• Kicks: 18900
• Bag work: 124 rounds (124m total)
• Grappling: 1 hour
  

Rebuilding Connections

The other day, my students and I went to visit an old friend of mine, Master Mark Preader. He operates a West Coast World Martial Arts school in Hollister, and he was kind enough to open his school to us in order to share a sweaty workout with both old and new friends. (Thanks KJN Mark!)

I've been making a concerted effort to reconnect with people who have been a part of my martial arts journey. In this case, I would have never met Mark were it not for visits like this, because we trained at different schools under different instructors. It warms my heart to be able to share experiences like this with my students, especially because mine were so valuable to me.

For a while, I had lost sight of this. When I was operating my school, I became mired in the day-to-day work (my lack of business mastery at the time) and I began to withdraw from the larger martial arts community, including all of the friends that I had made along the way. As I became more proficient with the business, I had formed a habit of keeping to myself.

In the past few years, I've come to realize just how much I've needed to reconnect. It inspires me to push for excellence because I see the different ways that my friends and peers have created excellence in their lives, and it broadens my perspective. It also inspires me to become more compassionate and understanding, since everyone's journey has been unique and full of their own challenges and victories.

Most importantly, it's reminded me of the value of my connections because they've all been a part of making me who I am today, and also because building bridges to link people is far more useful than building walls to separate them.

Alone in a Crowded Room

All of the usual 4th of July events that I attend are happening tomorrow, so I'm taking a day for myself today. After a bit of hiking, I stopped for a cup of coffee and some websurfing at the local spot.

While floating around on the web, I came across this tribute to our soldiers, and I felt a sense of loneliness come over me - not for myself, but for every soldier who might want to be hanging out at someone's BBQ.

I thought I'd share the video with you. Enjoy your holiday.

Workout Summary, Day 70

Moving right along!

I've dropped another 4 pounds since June 19, bringing my total weight loss to 16 pounds. Started at 249 (ouch), currently 233 (still ouch, but better than 249).

The weight's been coming off, but I'm concerned about hitting another plateau again soon. Whenever you work out like this, there's eventually a balance point where I'm losing fat, but gaining muscle mass, so the numbers will begin to even out. This is where some people get frustrated with their workouts, even the ones who know this is going to happen! When that begins to occur, I'll need to shake up my workouts a little bit more.

Next week, I'll be integrating more of my workouts with my student team. We'll be holding two workouts each day, Monday through Thursday, each with a different focus and intended intensity level to avoid burnout and overtraining injuries. Here's the layout of my schedule with my student team:

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I'll be integrating my kicking workouts in with my team during morning sessions, and then doing strength & conditioning in the afternoon sessions. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'll be doing bag work and target practice in the morning, and self-defense techniques in the afternoon sessions. Fridays will remain my 'free day', and my student team will rest that day also. I'll be hiking on Saturdays with my student team, and on Sundays, my student team will have another day of rest.

In addition to that, I've been hiking almost every afternoon for roughly 3 miles, while my summer schedule permits me to. I've been lagging on getting my bike fixed, but I've come to enjoy the peace and quiet of the trails, plus there's far less crazy drivers on the trails. :)

In the evenings, I head to the gym for a 45-60 minute cardio workout which involves some time on the exercise bike (occasionally switched with the elliptical), followed by a 1 mile cooldown walk on the treadmill which I haven't really been keeping track of. Then I can sit in the sauna and hot tub to relax my aching body, shower, and then head home.

It's a lot right now. It consumes a lot of time because right now, I have a lot of time and I want to stay active as much as possible. Once the end of August arrives, I'll be back on my regular teaching schedule and I will have to accomplish more within less time. I plan to increase my intensity levels at that time. That shift ought to shake up my workouts, and I hope that it'll help me to blast through any plateau that I encounter between now and then.

Tally for the week:

• Hiking: 22 miles (7.5 Sat, 3.5 Mon, 3.5 Tues, 3.5 Wed, 4 Thurs)
  
• Cycling (stationary): 30 miles (5 per day: Sat-Thurs)
• Running (elliptical): 3 miles (Sun)
  
• Basics: 45m (15m Sun, Tues, Thurs)
  
• Forms: 36 (12 Sun, Tues, Thurs)
  
• Bag Work: 12m (4x60s: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
  
• Kicks: 2400 (600 Sun, Mon, Tues, Thurs)
  
• Push-ups: 425 (125 Sat, 150 Mon, 150 Wed)
  
• Crunches: 600 (200 Sat, 200 Mon, 200 Wed)
  
• Squats: 400 (100 Sat, 150 Mon, 150 Wed)
• Lunges: 150 (Wed)
  

Total since Day 1:

• Running (total): 62 miles
• Cycling (total): 456 miles
• Hiking: 77 miles
  
• Pushups: 4850
• Crunches: 7375
• Squats: 3120
• Lunges: 1950
• Punching w/weights: 30m
  
• Basics: 90m
  
• Form repetitions: 308
• Kicks: 16300
• Bag work: 108 rounds (108m total)

My Legs Have Staged a Minor Revolt

Epic leg cramp today.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I'm pretty sure that my hamstrings are part-Decepticon now, and they recently tried to transform my leg into a medieval head crusher. Wow.

I had a feeling that one of these was going to hit me eventually, but it happened mid-workout with my student team. They're great though. Lots of shouts of encouragement followed, and I finished up my set with them.

I love my team. :)

Workout Summary, Day 63

Pictured: Someplace I'd really love to work out at! (lol)

In two short months, I've made a lot of progress. There's still a lot more to be made, but I'm happy to have remained consistent for this long. I've slipped a little bit at times, but I have an amazing support team that's kept my course steady and true!

The hiking is going well. I've been hiking at Santa Teresa Park and exploring several of the trails that I've always wanted to see. There's so much more here than I originally thought! I'm hoping to wander around a bit more and become really familiar with this place this summer. In the fall, I think I'll start tackling Alum Rock and Quicksilver Parks to change things up.

I'm going to need a new pair of shoes soon. My trusty cross-trainers have survived more than a few black belt training cycles and tests over the years and this recent blast of training will probably finish them off by the end of the summer.


Tally for the week:

• Hiking: 22 miles (5 Sat, 5 Sun, 3 Mon, 3 Tues, 6 Thurs)
• Cycling (stationary): 30 miles (5 per day: Sat-Thurs)
• Running (elliptical): 3 miles (Wed)
  
• Basics: 45m (15m per day: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
• Forms: 36 (12 per day: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
• Bag Work: 12m (4x60s: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
• Kicks: 1800 (3x600: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
• Punching (w/5lb weights): 15m (3x5m: Sat, Mon, Wed)
• Push-ups: 375 (3x125: Sat, Mon, Wed)
• Crunches: 450 (3x150: Sat, Mon, Wed)
• Squats: 300 (4x25: Sat, Mon, Wed)
  

Total since Day 1:

• Running (total): 59 miles
• Cycling (total): 426 miles
• Hiking: 55 miles
  
• Pushups: 4425
• Crunches: 6775
• Squats: 2720
• Lunges: 1800
• Punching w/weights: 30m
  
• Basics: 90m
  
• Form repetitions: 272
• Kicks: 13900
• Bag work: 96 rounds (96m total)

Worldwide Black Belt Standards

Any questions?

I Lost Some Stuff

As a child, when I used to tease my mother about losing her keys, she smiled and told me that someday, my memory would start to play tricks on me, and I would begin to lose things too.

And look at me now! Now I'm losing stuff left and right. The thought of it makes me smile.

Most recently, I've noticed that in the past 56 days, I've lost 12 pounds. I'm not even the slightest bit concerned. I don't know where they went, and I don't even plan on looking for them. They can stay gone. (The first few pounds always go quickly. It's just water weight, but it still feels good.)

I have also lost the ability to walk around in my current wardrobe without a belt. When this happens, my pants begin to collect around my knees like some of the local kids. I don't mind this either. Soon enough, I may lose some money and find some smaller pants, but I guess that comes with the territory.

I can't seem to find my appetite for fast food and greasy diners these days. It used to be a source of post-traumatic comfort, but I suppose there are worse things that I could be losing.

I saw my mom the other night and she asked me how I was doing. I told her about my upgraded workout schedule, the running, lifting, sparring, training, and hiking. Then I told her about the ever-present soreness that I've been feeling, but how happy I've been to be losing so many things.

Now my mother thinks I've lost my mind.

Mom was always right.

Today I Did Squat

Six hundred and twenty of them, in fact, before my legs got wobbly.

My students and I have begun preparations for the "Live Like A Champion" project. We've been meeting this week to do initial tests. Today, we were going to max out on unweighted chair squats, just going until we couldn't go anymore.

Legs were on fire, and it was AWESOME.

I was even more impressed with my students. They truly are determined to make the most out of this experience. Many of them beat my score. Several broke the 1,000 mark. The top two students did 1,336 and 1,400! *jaw hits floor*

I'm really happy to have this kind of a group to train with.

Morning Encounter

This is one of the reasons why I love hiking. In fairness, I didn't take this shot, but it was the closest thing I could find online to what I saw.

I was working my way up a rough series of hills, focused mostly on myself and trying to get my hefty frame to the top, when I heard a rustle in the grass. I looked up, and what I saw was something like this...except there were 4 of them.

We stared at each other for a while, and I slowly continued on my way. The trail ran at an oblique angle to the deer, so I guess it didn't seem very threatening. They just watched me walk by, unshaken by my presence.

To think that I almost missed it completely.

Mood: one with the universe. :)

Workout Summary: Day 49

Haha, I should have really changed my workouts up after Day 42.

This week's workouts felt dull and less inspired than my previous ones. I was talking with my girlfriend, Jenn (who doubles as my personal expert in all things fitness-related), and she's comforted me by reminding me that it's a good idea to change up my workouts every 6-8 weeks anyways, but even though this is Week 7 (well within the 6-8 week target), I still feel like I haven't taken as large of a stride forward this week.

It could be my mental focus as well. This week was centered on final exams, grading, and summer school planning, so admittedly, my mind has been elsewhere. I found myself planning while cycling, constantly looping back to ensure that I had thought out my summer school curriculum completely.

In any event, I will be starting to train with several students to prepare for the "Live" project beginning in the coming week. Since it's "summer vacation" for them, and many have commitments at work, summer classes, and family events, it will be more of a "drop-in when you can, but come often" type of format. That's going to shift up my training (and theirs) in a number of ways:

First off, I'll be implementing weight training into my routines. Low weight, but high rep for toning. That's going to be the focus of my Monday/Wednesday routine. Some of this will happen with my students, some at the gym, and some at home. Doing it this way means I'll be getting two mini-workouts after my group workout. Should be neat.

In addition, I'll be doing a weekly hiking and training session with my students on Saturdays. We'll be covering a lot of ground, going up and down big hills. I like hiking. It's going to burn really nicely. :)

Also, I'll be condensing my martial arts workouts into Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Much of my focus will be on basics, forms, and advanced kicking, with some bag work on Sundays. I've received some invitations to train with friends in various locations on Sundays, and I may add that in eventually, with hiking as a backup in case I am unable to attend their workout.

Fridays will become my new "free day", effective tomorrow. It'll give me two back-to-back free days this week, but it'll also provide me with an opportunity to get my head on straight with my other work.

Tally for the week:

• Running (elliptical): 6 miles (Sat, Mon, Wed - 2 miles each)
• Cycling (stationary): 60 miles (10 per day Fri-Wed, not today)
• Pushups: 600 (100 per day)
  
• Crunches: 600 (100 per day)
• Squats (no weights): 300 (100 Fri, 100 Sun, 100 Tues, 4 sets of 25)
• Lunges (no weights): 300 (100 Fri, 100 Sun, 100 Tues, 2 sets of 25 - each side)
• Form repetitions: 30 (10x Fri, 10x Sun, 10x Tues. Each day consists of 5 traditional, 5 contemporary)
• Kicks: 1800 (600x Sat, 600x Mon, 600x Wed. Assorted kicking techniques.)
• Bag work: 12 rounds (60 sec rounds; 4x Sat, 4x Mon, 4x Wed. Assorted boxing techniques.)

Total since Day 1:

• Running (total): 56 miles
• Cycling (total): 366 miles
• Hiking: 18 miles
  
• Pushups: 3650
• Crunches: 5800
• Squats: 1800
• Lunges: 1800
• Form repetitions: 200
• Kicks: 10300
• Bag work: 72 rounds (72m total)

Mission Accomplished, Almost

Tomorrow, I will complete a commitment that I made to my students at the high school: writing one blog entry per day until the last day of school. Since I will be posting a workout summary tomorrow, that should be relatively easy.

Doing daily blogging has been a useful exercise for me. Just like a good martial artist requires regular practice, and being fit requires regular exercise, becoming comfortable with writing requires that you regularly put your thoughts into words.

I'd recommend this to any student who is preparing to "Live Like A Champion" next year, and also as preparation for classes in the fall: write often, daily would be best! Scribble at least half a page into a journal, diary, notebook, blog, whatever. Reflect on your day, focus on a moment or an idea, consider your future, or more.

Just be sure to write.

P.S. Now that I have fulfilled this commitment, I may post less frequently. It'll still be more than once a week, but it won't be daily. Don't worry, I'll use the extra time for training. :)

Pardon My Moral Outrage

This is a public service announcement, on behalf of the children who cannot say this for themselves.

New parents: your baby stroller is NOT a device used to force your way through large crowds in public gatherings and/or shopping centers, nor is it an automatic guarantee that oncoming traffic will stop if/when you walk (or run) into the street.

You see, my friends, it sort of works like this:

Usually, strollers are out in front of you while you walk or run behind it, pushing the rolling cart that contains your newborn child. When you use this device like a battering ram, you are not only bumping people around rudely, you're endangering your child...or at the very least, indirectly using your child as a battering ram.

Also, while it's true that the overwhelming majority of drivers in the world have a powerful urge to avoid running over human offspring of any age, some drivers (even those who are well-trained in the martial arts) also have a very difficult time stopping their cars at short range when they are on a highway entrance ramp together with you.

Fortunately, I wouldn't happen to know anyone who has been shoved around by "stroller bullies" or who've almost wrecked their cars while narrowly avoiding a vehicular manslaughter charge. I also don't think that such a person could ever have this happen more than a dozen times in a 48-hour period.

I am also a terrible poker player.

P.S. To those people who push empty strollers around in order to take advantage of the same manipulative phenomenon, that's rather messed up.

This concludes today's message. Had this been an actual emergency, I would have called in Chuck Norris to handle it.

Building My Team, Part 1

Today, I had my first information session for prospective "Live" student members. It was an after school session, held during finals week, so I was expecting a somewhat low turnout. To top that off, our school busses had to depart earlier than normal, so I ended up with a lot of interest forms signed. I'll need to follow up on that.

In terms of promotion, it's primarily been word-of-mouth, using the unparalleled power of the Teenage Communications Network to broadcast news about the program in a way which evoked a sense of school pride in the students. I also put out a couple of handmade infomercial-like posters , along with some digitally-edited photos of some of the club's members (much like the photo above). Lastly, I posted announcements on Facebook and my club's Google Group.

I could've promoted this much more effectively. I didn't utilize the school's advisory (homeroom) period to make any announcements, or to ask teachers to do it. I also needed to schedule this during a more convenient time, and with enough advance notice for parents. I didn't pick up the phone at all, and I could have developed better handouts.

Still, the turnout was impressive. I had 23 students show up, which is 10% of the school! Of them, 15 were prepared to commit on the spot. The other 8 are almost fully committed. I will follow up on them later. Additionally, I have a large stack of interest forms, and several teachers from the school who want to take part in the training!

Between all of them, I'm absolutely certain that we will have 20+ people participating in the program. Ideally, I plan to secure firm commitments from the rest of the interest forms and build to the point where 20-25% of the school is involved.

More on this soon!

Congratulations, Class of 2009

Today, I will be celebrating LPS San Jose's second graduating class as they take to the stage and collect their hard-earned diplomas. Yay!

I am reminded of how hard the journey has been for them, moreso than a typical senior class at a regular high school. These students stayed loyal and true through some of our school's rough growing pains. We hadn't yet found ourselves and the place had much to be desired. I am honored and proud that they chose to perservere through those challenging times and succeeded, despite the chaos!

It's been 15 years since my high school graduation. In the lifetime I've led since I walked across the stage to collect my diploma, my adventures and follies would fill many volumes; however, the volume that would dwarf both of those immense treatises would be the one containing all of the lessons that I've learned since then.

Kudos to you, Class of 2009. Today marks the beginning of several new chapters in your lives. It is my sincere wish that your "lessons" book grows like mine has. Bring some success stories back for the reunion, too!

Spicy Plan Backfires

In a mild effort to reduce my consumption of cheese, I started replacing any cheese in my meals with jalapeno jack. (and using less)

There's a short story behind this, though.

You see, spicy food is like kryptonite to me. I'm very sensitive to it. As I was growing up, the mild sauce at Taco Bell would bring me to tears. For a while, even certain kinds of pizza sauce would have the same effect. As a result, I've stayed away from many spices because they might be 'too hot' for me, and endured the amused jabs from friends who were more than entertained by my vulnerability. My girlfriend insists that I improve in this area, and I simply haven't gotten around to it yet.

Back to the cheese: I switched cheeses because I figured that I would use less of it that way. It was intended to be a subtle way of using my own aversion to spicy stuff towards my own benefit.

It backfired: it turns out that I like jalapeno jack cheese.

Back to the drawing board. :)

Workout Summary: Day 42

It's almost time for me to shake up my workout.

I've been reconditioning myself for the past 6 weeks, and I feel like I need to add some martial arts training into the mix. I've begun looking for places which will help me fulfill my UBBT goals of receiving 20 hours of pro-boxing instruction and 100 hours of jiu-jitsu mat time. Both of these will be "white belt" experiences for me, but I'll be able to work out while I learn.

I'll keep you all posted and let you know what turns up in my search. The cool thing about San Jose is that the city is full of martial arts schools, but the bad thing is that the city is full of martial arts schools. I'll stick to this program for another week or two until I commit to a new workout facility.

Tally for the week:

• Running (elliptical): 6 miles (Sat, Mon, Wed - 2 miles each)
• Cycling (stationary): 60 miles (10 per day Fri-Wed, not today)
• Pushups: 600 (100 per day)
  
• Crunches: 600 (100 per day)
• Squats (no weights): 300 (100 Fri, 100 Sun, 100 Tues, 4 sets of 25)
• Lunges (no weights): 300 (100 Fri, 100 Sun, 100 Tues, 2 sets of 25 - each side)
• Form repetitions: 30 (10x Fri, 10x Sun, 10x Tues. Each day consists of 5 traditional, 5 contemporary)
• Kicks: 1800 (600x Sat, 600x Mon, 600x Wed. Assorted kicking techniques.)
• Bag work: 12 rounds (60 sec rounds; 4x Sat, 4x Mon, 4x Wed. Assorted boxing techniques.)

Total since Day 1:

• Running (total): 50 miles
• Cycling (total): 306 miles
• Hiking: 18 miles
  
• Pushups: 3050
• Crunches: 5200
• Squats: 1500
• Lunges: 1500
• Form repetitions: 170
• Kicks: 8500
• Bag work: 60 rounds (60m total)

Atychiphobia and Kakorrhaphiophobia

Atychiphobia = fear of failure.

Kakorrhaphiophobia = fear of failure or defeat.

I learned two new words today while preparing this blog. Yay me! (Don't ask me to pronounce them.)

It is often the fear of failure that prevents many people from initiating any change, whether in their own lives or the lives of others. There is a part of me that still whispers fears, doubts, and insecurities. 99% of the time, I can ignore them. My problem is the 1% of times when I listen.

What if I failed this project?

Well, I suppose my sense of failure would have to depend on the criteria with which I assess my success. Would I have failed if I did not receive a rank promotion? Would I have failed if I did not complete all of the UBBT criteria? How about if my students do not complete the challenge - would I take that as a failure?

Time for an attitude check.

Everything that I am doing, and everything that I inspire others to do, represents progress. It's a step in the right direction, and it's something beyond what any of us would have done alone. The longer we can maintain this, the more success we have attained.

If I view the "Live" project, my participation in it, and my students' participation in it as a collection of successes, celebrating each as they happen, then I need not fear the end point. I just need to appreciate the journey, and participate with nothing less than legendary effort.